Reversing Foundation Establishment

Seven days later, inside the cave dwelling.

Whoosh!

Lin Chen rose from the hot spring, casually snapped his fingers to remove the remaining droplets from his body, and stood before a massive floor mirror.

He had an excellent physique—pectoral muscles, abs, V-lines, and all.

He had trained specifically for this result. After all, a well-proportioned body could improve his agility and flexibility, giving him a greater advantage in battle.

"Let's begin!" Lin Chen took a deep breath. Spirit Thread surged from his hand, and vast quantities of Spirit Ink rose into the air, inscribing rune patterns across his body one after another.

Then, naked, he walked into a laboratory.

Restrictions gleaming with Formation Spiritual Light, Radiant Spirit Beads arranged according to the positions of an Eight Trigrams Formation, an incense burner giving off curling fragrance, and peculiar Mid-grade Spirit Stones radiating a milky-white glow.

This was the Foundation Establishment Secret Method Lin Chen had created—the Foundation Establishment Yuan Transformation Secret Ritual.

Bzzz!

Lin Chen lay down on the platform. Since he was not wearing anything, he could not help but feel a chill.

"Phew—"

He breathed out softly, relaxed his mind, and began to slowly activate the formation.

At this crucial moment, Lin Chen's thoughts drifted somewhat far away.

After all these years of research, I can be certain now: the activity level of spiritual energy distinguishes immortals from mortals.

Active spiritual energy undergoes a thousand changes and myriad transformations. Under the influence of various powerful factors, it can temporarily transform into all things in the world. It is by relying on this trait that cultivators possess extraordinary abilities.

And stagnant spiritual energy is not incapable of change, but it is affected by things that have already been transformed. Just as the human body may have fiery qi, yet cannot transform it into flames.

There should be a critical point between the two. Once that critical point is crossed, stagnant spiritual energy will no longer react with active spiritual energy.

Just as even in places overflowing with spiritual energy, not all land is spirit soil; among mortals, some have spiritual roots while others do not.

And cultivators cultivate immortality because they possess spiritual roots. Only active spiritual energy can influence each other—so does a spiritual root refer to that portion of active spiritual energy within the human body?

As his thoughts wandered, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy around him seemed to be drawn by something, continuously gathering into the laboratory. It gradually grew denser, forming a vortex...

It has begun... Lin Chen swiftly came back to his senses and focused on what lay before him.

Who knew how much time passed.

A vast amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy formed a small storm within the laboratory, continuously surging in from every direction into Lin Chen's body.

Pain! Excruciating pain!

Drops of blood seeped from the surface of his body. Even with Lin Chen's strength of mind, the intense agony forced a muffled groan from him.

This was the first trial of Foundation Establishment—the Qi and Blood Trial!

A massive quantity of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy was poured into a cultivator's fleshly body. If the body could not endure it, Foundation Establishment would fail!

Therefore, those with declining qi and blood or incomplete limbs would face even greater danger at this stage, with a higher chance of failure!

It's time. Lin Chen murmured in his heart, then true qi surged forth as he activated the preparations he had made.

Boom!

At once, the Spirit Beads arranged at the eight surrounding positions emitted immense suction, forming one Anti-Cyclone after another and forcibly weakening the spiritual energy vortex around Lin Chen.

Lin Chen felt his body lighten. The enormous Spirit Pressure around him began to plummet, and the tearing sensation in his flesh rapidly vanished.

"Draw!"

With Lin Chen's sharp cry, the spiritual energy dispersing around him was continuously drawn into his body by the rune patterns on his skin.

The total amount of spiritual energy within his body kept rising. Under the control of Lin Chen's true qi, it formed immense Spirit Pressure, continuously compressing the incoming Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy.

But the process was exceedingly arduous. The total amount of unrefined external spiritual energy had already far exceeded the amount of true qi within him.

Even exerting all his strength to control it, he felt powerless. The risk and difficulty of this process were like trying to restrain a man-eating tiger with a thin rope.

"Just as expected, there isn't enough true qi in my body. Even if I forcibly establish my foundation, I'll still lose control of the incoming Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and explode to death." Lin Chen gritted his teeth.

"Even if I'm not trying to break through from the middle stage of Qi Refining to the Foundation Establishment Realm, but merely attempting a leap in Spiritual Energy Level, it still won't work..." At that thought, Lin Chen used his backup plan without hesitation.

The jade box that had long been placed nearby opened, revealing the Hundred Year Jade Marrow inside.

Under Lin Chen's control, half of the Hundred Year Jade Marrow split away and flew above him before shattering directly.

The jade marrow spiritual power it contained poured into Lin Chen's body. At once, the active Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy seemed to grow languid at this moment.

The external spiritual energy, originally violent and uncontrollable, could now actually be controlled by Lin Chen.

"An opportunity!" Lin Chen pointed to the side.

A wisp of spiritual energy from one of the nearby Mid-grade Spirit Stones was forcibly extracted by the formation and flew into Lin Chen's body.

The instant it entered his body, the spiritual energy that had originally been scattered everywhere abruptly paused, then frantically surged toward a single point, continuously compressing and refining there!

Boom!

As time passed, it seemed as though a thunderous roar rang beside Lin Chen's ear.

At this moment, within Lin Chen's dantian, a milky white liquid of ever-changing form had appeared, mixed with a trace of red, blue, and yellow.

This was liquid true essence—the hallmark of a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator!

However, Lin Chen knew that this true essence had been forcibly condensed through various methods, and his control over it was abysmal. If he used it to establish his foundation, not only would his combat power be terribly weak, but it would also leave behind all kinds of hidden dangers!

"But I never intended to establish my foundation like this. Rather..." Lin Chen's expression suddenly turned solemn.

He stretched out his hand once more and slammed it fiercely onto the platform.

The Spirit Pearl that had been forming an anti-cyclone suddenly paused. Then, the direction of its suction reversed, continuously drawing away the spiritual energy around Lin Chen.

Without an ample supply of spiritual energy, the already unstable liquid true essence directly collapsed, forming a vast expanse of spirit mist mixed with red, blue, and yellow. It rapidly transformed into violent spiritual energy, wreaking havoc within Lin Chen's body!

Reversing a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator's liquid true essence into mist state true qi!

Lin Chen hastily took the remaining Hundred Year Jade Marrow, stabilizing the violent spiritual energy. Then he reversed the formation once more, drawing in spiritual energy and turning it into mist.

After repeatedly pulling it back and forth like this, Lin Chen finally succeeded in transforming the true qi within his body from a gaseous state into a mist state!

Misty spiritual energy was originally a change that occurred during the process of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, but through his methods, Lin Chen had stabilized it within his own body!

"Success!" A trace of delight appeared on Lin Chen's face.

This experiment was based on his research and reflections.

Even while researching cultivation, he had constantly been thinking.

That was, how could he surpass countless cultivators and compete for that immortal path to longevity?

The path of cultivation had always emphasized that the strong grew ever stronger. Only by standing supreme among cultivators of the same rank at every realm could one walk farther upon the immortal path to longevity.

There were also a very few unremarkable cultivators who could endure until the very end, but being able to obtain sufficient cultivation resources while lying low was itself a kind of ability.

Lin Chen was certain that scientific thinking, unlike that of this side world, was what he relied upon to become immortal.

But how to expand this advantage, and even surpass others with it, had never been a simple matter.

After all, in this side world, there was never any shortage of gifted cultivators blessed with abundant cultivation resources, heaven-defying supreme techniques, and terrifying talent!

For instance, cultivators possessing the [Mystic Water Spirit Body] not only advanced a thousand miles a day when cultivating water-element methods, comparable to cultivators with Heavenly Spirit Roots, but the true qi they cultivated also possessed high-level traits, making it incomparably sharp in battle.

Then there was Azure Cloud Sect's sect-defending method, the [Taiyi Longevity Art]. Not only did it allow cultivators to store more true qi within their bodies, it also endowed that true qi with properties such as healing and qi recovery, greatly increasing their endurance in battle. It could even increase a cultivator's lifespan.

Lin Chen had neither talent nor background. Though he could contend with them using the various trick-like spirit arts he had researched and developed, that was not true strength at its root.

But the previous observation experiment on spiritual energy levels gave him an idea.

Lin Chen had discovered that two energy levels were not like steps, mutually exclusive and distinct, but more like two different points upon a line that could be approached without limit.

In other words, if Qi Refining Stage true qi were cotton and Foundation Establishment Realm true essence were steel, then Lin Chen could use methods to transform Qi Refining Stage true qi to the level of wood.

Put into practice, Lin Chen could forcibly scatter this unstable liquid true essence and reverse it into mist state true qi, something between true essence and true qi.

Not only could it store more true qi than a qi cyclone, but after Lin Chen broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, the quality and quantity of true essence stored in his body would far surpass cultivators who had likewise just made their breakthrough.

In the words of the Cultivation World, doing this would make Lin Chen's foundation even more profound!

"Not only that, the mist state true qi in my body far surpasses cultivators of the same rank not only in storage capacity, but in quality as well. It is enough to contend with Foundation Establishment Cultivators, so I won't collapse at the first blow..."

"Once I fill my dantian with this mist state true qi, I can break through directly, without needing to undergo the physical body trial and the true qi trial."

Lin Chen smiled faintly. This experiment had been a complete success. Not only had it given him true qi whose quality and quantity far exceeded those of cultivators of the same rank, it had also laid down a profound foundation, allowing him to go farther on the road ahead!

Not only that, his true qi quality, reaction speed, and perception now all far surpassed those of cultivators of the same rank. It could be said that he would be hard-pressed to find an enemy among his peers!

"Next, I just need to continuously accumulate true qi, advance to the Foundation Establishment Realm as soon as possible, and explore the mysteries of the Golden Core Realm." Lin Chen pressed his hand down, and the formation gradually began to stop.

Just as he was about to stand, his body suddenly stiffened, and endless pain abruptly surged through his mind!

"What... is going on, ngh!" Lin Chen had not yet had time to figure out what had happened when a sudden pain struck his mind, and countless memories emerged within it!

The agony of breakthroughs, the joy of harvest, the repetition of experimental records, the process of researching tricks, the experience of his first battle, the state of mind from awakening his past wisdom... Countless memories replayed in his mind like scenes from a film.

A world radiating white light, a boundless chaos... At the end of the memories was that vast, unfathomable darkness, as though it had no end!

Then he saw it—a point of spiritual light slowly rising from within the darkness!